Nation/world briefs

Leaders at Washington National Cathedral, the closest thing in the country’s capital to an official church, have decided after two years of study and debate to remove two stained-glass windows honoring Confederate figures Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Saying the stories told in the windows were painful, distracting and one-sided, a majority of the governing body voted to remove them.

Syria

U.N. report says Syria behind sarin attack

United Nations investigators formally accused the Syrian government of using the banned nerve agent sarin in a deadly chemical weapons attack in April that killed dozens of civilians and wounded hundreds more. The attack, the investigators said in a report, was one of more than 20 government assaults involving chemical weapons since March 2013.

Afghanistan

U.S. apologizes for offensive leaflets

The U.S. military in Afghanistan apologized for distributing “highly offensive” leaflets. The leaflets dropped over parts of Parwan showed the shahada — the Muslim profession of faith — printed on the image of a dog, an animal viewed by many Muslims as unclean.

Myanmar

Boat with Rohingya refugees capsizes

A trawler carrying Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar capsized, killing at least five people, as the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, blamed a misinformation campaign for fueling a crisis that has pushed more than 125,000 refugees into Bangladesh.